Blizzcon Dev Interview
PlayersCut had the chance to speak with Chris Metzen at Blizzcon.

The Emerald Dream and Warcraft 4

The Emerald Dream is a nice idea and the team has talked about making it into an expansion many times. Building an entire expansion worth of zones around a green lush forest theme would get very boring, so the Emerald Dream would be better used as raid, dungeon, or a subzone, not an entire expansion.

For the foreseeable future, the content in World of Warcraft is where the team's primary focus will be. Warcraft 4 isn't planned right now, as Starcraft 2 is where the RTS focus is.

Warcraft Movie

The Warcraft movie is still doing casting.

The Orc's corruption by the Burning Legion is a root theme of the movie story.

World of Warcraft Heroes and Villains

The first few WoW expansions burned through the Warcraft villains pretty fast, which is why the team introduced characters like Garrosh. There are a number of characters they have started to insert into the storyline with the hopes that they will be made into compelling characters or great villains in the future.

Wrathion and Anduin are characters to watch going forward. Anduin gets slightly older with every model update and Metzen would like to see him become king one day.

Yrel is a new character in Warlords of Draenor, starting as a naive priestess in old Draenor. When the conflict kicks into gear she will need to become a hero over the course of the story, a new major Alliance heroine, and take a leadership role among the Alliance.

Next Connected Realms 11/25

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

​We will be connecting the realms listed below on Monday, November 25 during a scheduled maintenance beginning at 6 a.m. PST through approximately 11:00 a.m. PST. Once maintenance is finished, these realm connections will be complete.

Azshara and Azgalor

Arygos and Llane

Cairne and Perenolde

Nathrezim and Anub'arak/Chromaggus/Garithos/Smolderthorn

Winterhoof and Kilrogg

Zangarmarsh and Hellscream

We will be connecting the realms listed below on Monday, December 2 during a scheduled maintenance beginning at 6 a.m. PST through approximately 11:00 a.m. PST. Once maintenance is finished, these realm connections will be complete.

Coilfang and Dark Iron

Fenris and Dragonblight

Icecrown and Malygos

Spirestone and Drak'Tharon/Firetree/Malorne/Rivendare

Ysondre and Magtheridon

​Future Connections
We do not have a date for the following realm connections, but will update this blog post when we do.

Next Batch

Andorhal and Ursin

Crushridge and Anub'arak/Chromaggus/Garithos/Nathrezim/Smolderthorn

Darrowmere and Windrunner

Quel'dorei and Sen'jin

Velen and Eonar

​Plans for these connections may change at any time, but we’ll provide additional updates on specific dates for future connections here as we can. Please note that as a part of the connection process realm times may change to match each other.

Next Connected Realms 11/25

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

The connections below should be completed shortly:

Uldum and Shen’dralar/Zul’jin

Boulderfist and Chromaggus/Shattered Halls

Rajaxx and Anetheron

Agamaggan and Emeriss/Hakkar/Crushridge

Terrodar and Dethecus/Mug’thol/Theradras

Alexstrasza and Nethersturm

As part of our ongoing Connected Realms implementation, we will be connecting additional realms as listed below. We don’t have a specific date yet on when these connections will occur, but we’ll provide another update once we do.

Executus and Burning Steppes/Kor’gall

The Venture Co and Sporeggar/Scarshield Legion

Arathi and Temple Noir/Naxxramas

Daggerspine and Boulderfist/Chromaggus/Shattered Halls

Area 52 and Un’Goro

Thunderhorn and Wildhammer

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Raid FinderI am probably in the minority but just wanted to say anyway.
I really don't think you are. We can see by the numbers that it's a popular feature. As is the way with most things, if you're fine with something you're unlikely to make a thread about it—so thank you for going to the trouble.

Having said that, people do have valid issues with game features from time to time, and we make sure to pass on that feedback to the developers so they can decide whether to make any adjustments, and hopefully improve the game experience for everyone. We've made a number of tweaks to LFR since it was introduced based on your feedback, so also a big thanks to those who have highlighted other aspects.

Basically, we really appreciate good or bad feedback about LFR or any other game features, as long as it's constructive! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Warlords of Draenor Flyingsmall no-fly zones are ok, the whole continent is way to punishing. Especially without lore reason.
I don't feel the need to justify good gameplay with lore. Why can Four Winds virmen defeat Onyxia? Good gameplay. (Source)Believable lore and setting, must be internally consistent, is very important to a RPG.
We agree, but gameplay is more important, at least at Blizzard. Other studios design with different values. (Source)

So basically not having flying has nothing to do with immersion or exploration or interaction it's just timesink
That's almost exactly the opposite of what we said, but I know you like to argue. (Source)it is when we are forced us to fight mobs not needed wasting my now-slim play-time ...please reconsider
But that sounds like you're arguing for a dungeon with 3 bosses in the first room.... (Source)nope cus dungeons have a path and story ...trash has to do with dungeon and since Cata they hint next boss mechanics
Yet players still complain constantly about trash because it delays them from getting to the good stuff. (Source)

I don't want leveling to be easier/quicker. I want repeated content to have less travel/downtime.
We don't think flying makes questing quicker. We think it makes it trivial. There is a difference. (Source)

You guys always talk about player "choice" yet you enforce this issue of no flying. Double standards :|
Actually, we champion interesting decisions. Deciding whether to fly or not is not interesting, b/c flying is always better. (Source)You will take away whole playstyles. "Fly around and herb + chatting in guild" is not who I want to gamequit.
Those will still exist. Just not at day one on the new continent. (Source)

"This thing I openly admit is not fun or compelling is valuable" is, you understand, a hard sell?
Game design, like much of art, isn't about having an intense experience 100% of the time. (Source)
You need a background upon which the epic stuff can stand against. Travel, easy fights, repairs are all part of the experience. (Source)
In the near term you might not miss them if they were gone, but in the long term, the game might feel like it had less depth. (Source)

Lorewise, what's the reason we can't fly then suddenly, we can... then we can't again?
There isn't a good one. It's not a lore-based decision. (Source)

if thats true then why do you nerf quest xp, RAF, heirlooms etc to make the grind faster?
Because otherwise hitting max level would only take more and more time the longer the game had been out. (Source)
It does NOT mean that we think leveling in a new continent is lame and shouldn't be part of the game. (Source)

why can't you just give mobs a close range dismount ability? So we can still fly high, but not low to skip mobs?
Ultimately, you are still deciding when you want to face danger in the outdoor world. That's not quite the same thing. (Source)

Also, If WoW's an escape from the drudgery of the real world, how are boring commutes until 6.1 making the game more fun?
Is clearing trash a ton of fun? Some things are in the game to provide pacing and cadence. You can't be at 11 all the time. (Source)

That could easily be fixed by adding some "anti-air units" around some quest areas, where it could work anyways.
That either means quest flying is possible but super risky or it's realistically not possible. Either way not much of a difference (Source)

What was wrong with the Wrath model of grounded leveling for main, BoA tome for alts?
If leveling is supposed to be trivial for alts, why not just make them all jump to max level? (Source)

A question: Will the PvP-Zone be a "No-Fly-Zone" even after 6.1 when we get our flying-ability back?
Almost certainly. (Source)

I've been there . Vanila Wow was really shit .
Let it death and burried.

About the subscriptions ? Well , I played since vanilla , but this no-flying combined with the item-squish was the straw that broke the camel back for me .
Unsub. Won't buy the expansion. My money already started to go on Steam games. World of Tanks , LOL and Dota2 installed.

That's your opinion that it was shit, but the 10 million plus subs + going into TBC says otherwise, a majority of people loved Vanilla. Go ahead and quit, it won't affect anything or anyone but one less whiner.

I'm seeing hot pink and hearts and people say blizzard is sexist with their platekinis and lack of strong female characters. Where do they come up with this stuff? It's kind of amusing, there was a big thread making fun of Blizzard for showing those 9 lore characters on the warlords poster and not one was female. And then they said just you wait we've got some women on the horizon. And this is it, a friendship is magic character.

Look at the goddamn picture!
This armor is badass, one of the rare cases, where a female has a REAL functional looking armor and not some "My tits are covered to get PG13 but, look at mah belly!!" platekini.
There is a round purple gem and a heart shape, yes, but this design makes sense if you take into account that Draenei are just, life loving and benevolent.

Emerald Dream doesn't have to be only about flush green forests. Even Northrend has special forests. Use your imagination! But I don't think I can expect much anything special. Warlords of Dreanor doesn't seem to have much imagination either. And dungeons are often just different kinds of hallways.

This flying stupidity really makes me happy I left. Back when I was young, had no kids, and had LOTS of time to do as I pleased, I would have said this was awesome. As it stands, they need to realize their player base is no longer 13 year olds sitting in their mommy and daddy's houses (I never was, started WoW at like 24). We have lives now. We have children and bills and work women and responsibilities. The flying thing allows those same, die hard, been here since the beginning players to speed up the process a little and get them caught up to the folks who can sit on the game 9 hours a day, 7 days a week. You folks that are all against flying need to remember that you're not the only people playing the game. It's neat that you're unemployed, living at home still at 25, and able to play a videogame longer than most people are at work. I can't. Try seeing it from all sides, not just the speed levelers for realm first 50s, the folks who like to stop and look at every pixel, and the folks who would rather have this epic trek through 5 levels. WoW needs to come to terms with the fact that hardly ANYONE plays their game for the leveling experience......they play for the endgame PvE/PvP. So making the part that the minority like a little easier on the majority doesn't seem like a bad thing to me, and actually sounds a lot like why we ended up with the raid content we have now.

GC, sorry but your starting to sound like an ass. especially with that alt comment, you know the PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY STAY PLAYING LONGER. on a side note still waiting on news for my sever being connected.

It will afect Blizzard pockets . Instead of geting my(our) money , the Steam will take them. Voluntary giving your profit to someone else. Such a good business plan.

Mark my words. In the end, the bussines department will crucify Ghostcrawler+Afrasiabi+their team for this decision.

The few thousand mad little mob who quit over this one feature will not dent them in the slightest I assure you. If the 7.5 million subs or whatnot dropped to say, 2.5 million due to just this feature that's one thing, but it won't. Blizzard will always cater to the majority of what players want, and not enough are mad about no flying till 6.1. Nobody is seeing this from the game point of view or a dev point of view....the haters are seeing it through their rose tented "i want things to me easier for ME" glasses.

As for the person talking about we're not 13 anymore and have jobs, true enough your right. I'm 32, work a 12 hour shift job 4 days and 1 night a week. I still don't mind this change if it helps WoW get back to what it was pre Cata. I find it a form of entertainment being stuck on the ground, make's us have to use some of those ground only mounts we've had stuck away forever and don't use. Mechan'O Hog anyone?

small no-fly zones are ok, the whole continent is way to punishing. Especially without lore reason.I don't feel the need to justify good gameplay with lore. Why can Four Winds virmen defeat Onyxia? Good gameplay.

Believable lore and setting, must be internally consistent, is very important to a RPG.We agree, but gameplay is more important, at least at Blizzard. Other studios design with different values.

I don't want leveling to be easier/quicker. I want repeated content to have less travel/downtime.We don't think flying makes questing quicker. We think it makes it trivial. There is a difference.

I find it interesting that they are so adamant about taking away flying every expansion (at least wrath had a good reason), give no lore or explanation of why they are doing other than "it makes questing trivial" (Which it doesnt) , and its perfectly ok.

Its also interesting that other gameplay changes, like race/class combos, still do require strict lore adherence , when its the exact same thing as the flying issue. (Gameplay, as in racial traits [Min maxing] , and character customization/enjoyment [A big factor in playing the game])

They keep saying, and other people keep regurgitating , that flying somehow "ruins" content, which is tenably false. The risk involved in riding on a ground mount is negligible while questing, gathering, or any activity aside from jumping off a tall cliff and hoping to miss the ground. The only time in wow's history where being on the ground was "engaging and/or dangerous" was back in Vanilla when it had the mother of all Daze mechanics and dismounting by getting sneezed at; it was also a time when there was actually dense mob population, so much that it was nigh impossible to just run through or past mobs without getting dismounted. This has not been the case for years now. Flying doesnt negate quest objectives or risks, or encounters. You still have to land near the quest objective, which always have either no enemies in a 100 yards near it, or at least 1 mob nearby that instantly attacks you. Being on a ground mount, or a flying one does not change how you interact in those situations.

The only thing a flying mount does is ensure you reach your destination quicker and more efficiently; which blizzard apparently states is not an issue. The ONLY reason why flying is being frowned upon by blizzard, is their continued insecurity with people not "fully experiencing" their content they make, the exact way they want you to. Flying does nothing to "trivialize" questing or encounters, it only cuts out the middle man if there ever was one.

Being forced to the ground does not make the experience any more engaging, thrilling, awe inspiring, or difficult; and if anything, theres a valid difference of opinion on whether the scenery on the ground is more beautiful or the scenery in the air is. And in the same breath, paladins, shaman and druids need more race diversity "because gameplay is more important than lore".

Area 52 combined with Un'Goro? Isn't Area 52 a "Full" server with qeue times?

Yeah, makes no sense how they are doing this. I moved my main to Bleeding Hollow for more population but the rest of my chars are still on Gorefiend, and it's dead as dirt there...been waiting and waiting, I don't want to spend 25 dollars per character to move 6 characters :/

The way they're defending the no flying change at this point isn't very encouraging. When you start resorting to hyperbolic "urrb durrb, why don't we just give you a room full of bosses and free level 100s" arguments then it's safe to say you're not intelligently engaging with the concerns of the players any longer.

There are legitimate design reasons to disallow flying, and the fact that they're not bringing them up makes me worried that they're not actually going to be designing Draenor that much around no-flying at all, and this change is going to end up being as horribly arbitrary as I'd feared.

I feel for the devs. It must be rough having to get a constant stream of bitching about this subject or the next. The problem is, people don't read or care about the long, thought out blue posts. They just keep up their RABBLE RABBLE! attitudes and expect that a horribly written, misspelled tweet to GC will change his mind on the subject.

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Originally Posted by Shudder

Because get this, not everyone loves to derp around on a ground mound exploring and smelling flowers. A LOT of people hate questing, they hate leveling, they hate dailies. I'm one of them. I don't enjoy leveling at the start of the expac, I consider it a punishment for something bad I did in a previous life that I must suffer through so I can get to end game and do things I enjoy, like playing with my friends and killing shit in dungeons and raids. Everyone in my guild tries to race through leveling as quick as possible because it sucks.

The only reason they gave for this was "makes questing trivial" well I don't fucking care how trivial questing is at max level. Why would I quest? I'm already max level. What could they offer me to quest at max level? VP gear? Gated behind rep? Yeah they tried that, I didn't do it then either. People play this game for different reasons. I consider questing annoying single player collect boar heart bullshit. This is an mmo, I have fun playing with FRIENDS.

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It doesn't. Everyone knows the real reason they're doing this. To make more pvp. So that people can't fly in and out of world pvp. They don't have the balls to say that cause the majority of players play on pve realms and would freak on them. So they'll just keep being vague and giving non answers to explain why they're taking it away.

Then don't play and RPG if you hate questing/leveling. That would probably solve so many of this games problems.

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Originally Posted by thunderdragon2

thats a lie bc was horrible for leveling and gearing take those glasses off plz.

leveling wasnt intresting the only nice zone was nagrana and mabye blades edge rest was meh and while im at it im on a pve server so your last sentantanc dosent apply to me

BC was great, no glasses here. Couldn't have been that bad considering how quickly it was growing, and how many subs it had =p Good try though.

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Originally Posted by Silversorrow

Area 52 combined with Un'Goro? Isn't Area 52 a "Full" server with qeue times?

Didn't they say they were connecting some dead realms with high population ones?

It will afect Blizzard pockets . Instead of geting my(our) money , the Steam will take them. Voluntary giving your profit to someone else. Such a good business plan.

Mark my words. In the end, the bussines department will crucify Ghostcrawler+Afrasiabi+their team for this decision.

If that was going to happen, it probably would have been after the first 5 million subs were lost under their watch. Rightly or wrongly, Blizz doesn't seem inclined to blame the dev team for sub losses.

They always make dumbass decisions at the start of the expansions and become all stubborn and tell us to suck it up and write blogs telling us to l2play and when they see the sub numbers floating away they do a 180 and start saying in interviews that they regret it and that it was a bad decision. This will be no different.

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Yeah they stand on their own. That's why heroics are super hard and we have to do a million dailies every day.

/highfive

Though I actually preferred harder heroics. Dailies and valor point gear gated behind rep can all die in a fire. Flying is something I can live without but keeping us from ever flying in current content again feels stupid and lame. I get that they face SOME limitations with quest design if they know characters can fly in the zone, but that entire battle front area in Krasarang Wilds worked just fine. Hell the fort you go to for the "Change of Command" quest even has fliers that'll knock you out of the air! It worked just great - even on my somewhat-sorta-geared main I have to be careful going there to help people. It added to the challenge and I found it quite enjoyable.

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Originally Posted by Zephinism

Notice the european flag above the area 52 connected realms part...?

That's because it's EU-Area 52 which is a low populated alliance dominant realm. Not the US-Area 52 horde megaserver.

Thank you. I was quite concerned for a moment there. Timeless isle was unplayable at launch - literally unplayable. I was wondering if connecting the realms would give twice the server "bandwidth" (capacity really). Ah well.

I like the argument by the one referencing the cold weather flying tome, as if it was magically there and enabled alt flying right away... obviously this person wasn't even playing then, because it was introduced in patch 3.2, a patch later than the flying thats going to be allowed in 6.1. lawls. This big argument is a bunch of crap... its a bunch of whiners hoping blizzard will cave like they sometimes cave to mass whining. You're not going to be flying in 6.0, get over it, oh noes. It's a damn game. Stop playing if you hate it so much. If its that much of an excess time sink that you can't handle it, you probably don't have the time to be playing games in the first place. Drop your sub if you hate it... you're still playing now, so it's obviously not that bad. MMO's are not for the short of time, there's plenty of better games out there for you.

I think it's funny that there are thousands of people complaining that the game is now "too easy" and they have taken all the fun out of it. When they start to reduce how easy it has become by postponing flying, everyone is up in arms about how hard it will be.

I think removing LFG and LFR and forcing servers to become real communities again would also help undo a lot of damage, but think of the uproar that would bring! I truly think that the Blizzard design staff is damned if they do and damned if they don't at this point.